As the powerhouse in charge of the Great Ming's finances, Liu Huaiwen's greatest fear was the sudden emergence of uncontrollable situations, such as natural disasters or unexpected wars. This was because either of these scenarios would mean the already strained national treasury would have to keep shelling out silver.
However, in the year 4484 of the Yellow Emperor's reign, the third year of Zhu Jinsong's enthronement as Emperor, the fifty-third year of Qianlong, in the second month of spring, while Zhu Jinsong was still devising ways to extract some silver from Liu Huaiwen, the treasury's strongman, Zhu Zhongqu, who occupied the entirety of Zhejiang, joined forces with rebels from Huguang, Liangguang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan, among others, to declare themselves as acting on behalf of heaven to suppress rebels, preparing to attack Zhu Jinsong collectively.
Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Great Ming, was utterly bewildered.
This was because, from the second year of his enthronement, the Great Ming court under Zhu Jinsong had been busy rectifying numerous internal matters. Besides building bridges and roads and establishing community schools, they were also engaged in trade with various barbarian tribes and had no time to deal with the myriad of rebels.
In other words, Zhu Jinsong had done nothing to provoke anyone, yet rebels like Zhu Zhongqu were banding together to attack him.
Huguang, Liangguang, plus Anhui, Jiangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan – that amounted to nine provinces. If one added the smaller rebel factions occupying a few prefectures, the allied forces this time to suppress the Great Ming were even larger in scale than the eighteen feudal lords who attacked Dong Zhuo.
If these disorganized rebels had merely formed an alliance, it wouldn't have been much of an issue. The critical problem was the incredibly inconvenient timing they had chosen for their offensive.
The second month of spring was the very season for spring plowing. By choosing this time to launch their attack, these rebels were not only affecting the common people under Zhu Jinsong's rule but also the cultivation of the people under their own jurisdictions.
The issue was that Zhu Jinsong's territories were somewhat better off. Relying on the advantages of maritime trade and the grain reserves accumulated over the years, even if spring plowing was affected, it wouldn't be catastrophic; at most, they would have to abandon this year's harvest.
But what about the common people under the rebels' rule?
Except for Zhu Zhongqu, who occupied Zhejiang, and Mei Chunxiao, who occupied Guangdong, who might have had some grain reserves, the remaining rebels, if they had as much grain as Zhu Jinsong, enough to feed their people for over two years, was something that Zhu Jinsong himself wouldn't believe, let alone the old dog Qianlong.
This was no longer a matter of hurting the enemy a thousand and damaging oneself eight hundred; it was akin to hurting the enemy a thousand and damaging oneself three thousand, a desperate gamble with the mindset of success or death.
These rebels were prepared to cripple themselves significantly just to eliminate Zhu Jinsong first.
Therefore, after receiving intelligence from both the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Heaven and Earth Society, Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Great Ming, was so enraged that he was stunned.
Damn it, where was this kind of initiative when we were fighting the Qing? You didn't attack Qianlong when he was in Zhili, and now you're turning your blades against me?
This is simply an insult too great!
After summoning all the major and minor figures under his command and allowing them to review the intelligence from the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Heaven and Earth Society, Zhu Jinsong said with a grim expression, "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms does mention the story of the eighteen feudal lords attacking Dong Zhuo. I never imagined that over twenty feudal lords would now come to suppress our Great Ming."
The faces of the officials in Zhu Jinsong's Great Ming court were also quite grim.
Zhu Erdan, who was in charge of the Directorate of Military Operations for the Left Army, directly exclaimed, "Since they dare to come, we shall simply fight them back! Not only fight back, but we must make them hurt, shatter their dog courage completely!"
Liu Hemming, in charge of the Directorate of Military Operations for the Right Army, also voiced his agreement, "Brother Erdan is right, we must fight back. This battle, our Central Army Directorate of Military Operations is willing to take the lead attack!"
Zhu Erdan glared at Liu Hemming and retorted, "Nonsense! The Left Army Directorate of Military Operations should be the one taking the lead attack! Your Central Army Directorate of Military Operations is stationed in Shandong, and the rebel Zhu Zhongqu from Zhejiang initiated this attack, so it is only right that our Left Army Directorate of Military Operations should lead the charge!"
Seeing Zhu Erdan and Liu Hemming arguing over who would lead the attack, Liu Erniu, in charge of the Directorate of Military Operations for the Left Army, Geng Rui, in charge of the Directorate of Military Operations for the Right Army, and Zhu Sanshun, in charge of the Directorate of Military Operations for the Rear Army, exchanged a tacit glance and remained silent.
The Five Directorates of Military Operations in Zhu Jinsong's version were not the same as the original Five Directorates of Military Operations of the Great Ming. Instead, they were more like military region divisions. Although these military regions were somewhat small, the rebel forces of Zhu Zhongqu in Zhejiang were coming from the south, so only the Central Army Directorate of Military Operations could contend with the Left Army Directorate of Military Operations for the lead attack. The others had no ground to compete.
As Zhu Erdan and Liu Hemming continued their bickering, Zhu Jinsong directly slammed his hand on the table in front of him and shouted, "All of you, shut up! There will be no lead or secondary attacks this time! Anyone who continues to quarrel will be assigned to manage logistics!"
After reprimanding Zhu Erdan and Liu Hemming, Zhu Jinsong turned his gaze to Liu Huaiwen and said, "Uncle Huaiwen, I won't waste time with flowery words. The situation is clear: we need the national treasury to produce silver."
As Zhu Jinsong finished speaking, all the officials, big and small, in the Great Ming court turned their attention to Liu Huaiwen.
What Emperor Zhu Jinsong of the Great Ming said was correct. The current battle was initiated by the coalition of various rebels, and the Great Ming was not attacking them first. Therefore, this battle was inevitable.
Warfare was inseparable from silver.
Although the Five Directorates of Military Operations had just received their allocated military funds, Zhu Jinsong's original plan was to engage in large-scale military operations only after the Great Ming had stabilized further. Therefore, the funds allocated to the Five Directorates of Military Operations were naturally insufficient to deal with the rebel forces from nine provinces and over twenty factions across the land.
Thus, the problem once again fell upon the national treasury – if the national treasury could provide sufficient silver, then everything would be fine. If the national treasury could not, then this war would be somewhat difficult to fight; at the very least, they would have to use artillery shells and hand grenades frugally.
Seeing that Emperor Zhu Jinsong of the Great Ming and the leaders of the military system were all looking at him, Liu Huaiwen couldn't help but puff his dry tobacco pouch indignantly and say, "What are you all looking at me for?"
"Just as His Majesty said, since they have already come, our Great Ming must fight back, otherwise, they will think we are easily bullied!"
"I will make a statement on behalf of the national treasury – there's nothing more, but eight million taels of silver is not a problem."
After some thought, Liu Huaiwen let out a cold snort and added, "Since we are going to fight, let's go all out. The national treasury will provide fifteen million taels of silver for this battle!"
Upon hearing Liu Huaiwen's statement, all the officials, big and small, except for Emperor Zhu Jinsong of the Great Ming, were stunned.
Wasn't the national treasury empty enough to let rats run through it?
Didn't the national treasury originally only have over two million taels of silver, and with the money extorted from the barbarians, it only amounted to over five million taels of silver? How did fifteen million taels of silver suddenly appear?
Remember, five million taels suddenly becoming fifteen million taels meant an increase of ten million taels of silver, not just a mere thousand taels.
Liu Huaiwen, however, glared at the assembly of officials and said, "Why are you all looking at me? This is the autumn tax that was just submitted... submitted last year, not money that was originally in the national treasury."
"Let me tell you, after this battle is over, the national treasury will truly be empty enough for rats to run through. Your budgets for this year will have to be tightened!"
However, the other officials did not believe Liu Huaiwen's words.
What time was it? It was the second month of spring. Last year's autumn tax would have at most just been submitted to the national treasury, so this money could only have been what was originally there.
Of course, whether the other officials believed it or not was not important to Liu Huaiwen. The money was in the treasury, and if these prodigal sons spent it all, it would be gone.
Unless these fifteen million taels were not enough to defeat the allied forces.
But was that possible? Clearly not. Fifteen million taels of silver would be enough for the soldiers of the Directorate of Military Operations for the Rear Army to annihilate the Qing forces holed up in Zhili three to five times over. Dealing with a mere coalition of rebel forces, fifteen million taels should be more than sufficient.
However, Zhu Jinsong snorted and said, "Uncle Huaiwen, stop trying to fool me with your nonsense about the national treasury being empty enough to let rats run through it."
"Let me tell you, we have encountered a tough opponent this time."
"Fifteen million taels of silver would be enough to deal with the Qing, and more than enough to deal with the good-for-nothings like Zhu Zhongzhi or Zhu Zhongji and Zhu Zhongfeng."
"But to deal with Zhu Zhongqu of Zhejiang, it might not be enough."
Saying this, Zhu Jinsong then looked at Ke Zhiming and instructed, "Tell everyone about the situation in Yangzhou."
Ke Zhiming first stood up and acknowledged the order, then said to the officials, "The rebels in Zhejiang are vastly different from those we have encountered before."
"When we took Jiangsu previously, the Huang family of Yangzhou Prefecture did not remain in Yangzhou but instead fled south to join the Ruan family in Zhejiang."
"Our Great Ming has the book "Qi Qi Tu Shuo" (Illustrated Explanations of Strange Devices), and the Huang family in Yangzhou also possesses a copy of "Qi Qi Tu Shuo"."